What’s in XC130

The latest issue of Cross Country is out now in both paper and digital formats. Read on for editor Ed Ewing’s taster of what’s brewing inside.

XC130 features a brilliant shot on the cover of Dune du Pyla waggas guru Charlie Piccolo having fun in the sun. Taken by Tristan Shu it’s a perfect moment.

Inside we have all the action from the European Paragliding Championships. It was so nearly a washout but the last day provided all the action. Interviews with new European Champions Petra Slivova and Luca Donini reveal how they did it.

One way Luca did it was by flying the new two-line glider from Ozone, the R10.2. Two-line technology has taken the competition paragliding world by storm this season, but how exactly do you fly a paraglider with only two lines anyway? R10.2 designer David Dagault reveals the secrets behind this performance-busting machine in an exclusive indepth interview.

Away from the comp world we have an incredible article about flying the Himalayas by Greater Ranges guru Brad Sander. Brad and his team of seven set out to fly 1,200 km across the length of the Himalayas – the longest vol-bivouac journey ever attempted.

The flying was big and tough – involving 7,000 m mountains, reserve throws, unique cultures, spectacular skies and awesome terrain. Brad and Eric Reed made it to the end despite being “traumatized” by the rough flying day after day through West Nepal. Their amazing seven week adventure is detailed in words and pictures in the magazine.

Elsewhere we have a great set of images from Giorgio Sabbioni of Mike Kung paragliding in Jordan’s Wadi Rum, news from the Paragliding World Cup circuit, the Asian Paragliding Championships, the Nordic PG Open, Wills Wing in California and an amazing escape during an acro hang gliding contest in the USA.

Also throwing a stick on the campfire is French paragliding and hang gliding master Antoine Boisellier, who recounts the tale of the best flight of his life: deep into the heart of the Ecrins on his hang glider. Meanwhile, regular columnist Paragliding World Champion 2007 Bruce Goldsmith looks at lines – how thin can they get? How thin do we want them to get? He’s got plenty of interest to say on that.

Sticking with technical articles, we’ve got one of the best ‘plain English’ explanations of cloth we’ve ever read. Written by Apco’s Anatoly Cohn he brings his 20 years’ experience to bear on making the technical understandable.

Phew, are you still with us? Great. At the back of the magazine we have instruction articles: How best to hold your brakes; How to fly your first comp; And how to recognize and avoid cloudsuck.

In the reviews we have the Niviuk Hook 2 (EN B) and Escape Gliders S’pace (EN B) on test, while US hang gliding member and Cross Country’s hang gliding editor gets to grips with the Covert race harness – sleek.

If that’s not enough, this issue also comes with a FREE DVD. Flight is the latest movie from the Green Twins, US acro pilots who are best known for their award-winning film Lift_. Their latest movie is released exclusively with this issue of Cross Country magazine. Get it and get a double dose of the best hang gliding and paragliding fix this side of cloudbase – all in XC130.

Get Flight FREE with XC130